Chapter 7
“HIDE WHERE? From whom?” Carolyn had her arms around his neck and didn’t want to let go, afraid he might disappear. Her body refused to stop shaking.
“The religious fanatics who hunt the pagans. We’ll need to get back to the stone circle so the Sidhe can bring us back, but we can’t go there now.” Grabbing her hand, he dragged her through the fields and up a steep hill between mounds of rocks and scrub bushes.
More screams and loud shouts came from far below. “What’s happening, Rory? Can’t we help them?”
“No. The Sidhe warned me.” He stopped abruptly. “You need to take off that white robe, they’ll see you a mile away.”
“What?”
“Here, no time to argue.” He took off his black robe, revealing his naked, muscular body. “Put this over the white robe.”
She did, and they ran farther away from the screams, away from angry shouts. They stumbled over several other hills, riddled with jagged rocks or steep slopes of loose gravel. On the other side of one knoll, Rory found a dense cluster of boulders and pulled her inside a small cave. “You be shaking, lass. It’s okay. We’ll be fine.” Gasping for breath, they collapsed on the sandy ground.
Carolyn’s side ached and muscles twitched from running and climbing. “Fine? Are you crazy? It doesn’t seem like everything is fine to me. What’s happening to the people at the stone circle?”
He curled his arm around her shoulders and pressed her head against his chest. He didn’t answer.
“Tell me. They’re going to kill them, aren’t they?”
“Yes, lass. They’ll be burned.”
“Oh my God. Oh my God. We need to get out of here. Can’t those Sidhe friends of yours get us out of here?” She was panting again. Her heart thundered in her chest. He pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her.
“Not until we can stand by the stones safely. And if we go there now, they’ll burn us too.”
* * *
Several hours later golden sunlight streamed into the entrance of the tiny cave. Rory woke with Carolyn in his arms, her head on his chest. She was asleep, and he hated waking her. While she slept her fears did not show on her face, but once she awakened those fears from last night would only return.
The screams of agony had died long before Carolyn’s whimpers and tears stopped. The sound of oars banging against boats suggested that the executioners had done their deed and left hours ago.
“Carolyn.” He shook her.
“Hmmm?” She blinked, stretched, then her body went rigid. “Is it over?”
“I think so. Wait here.”
“No. I’m coming with you.”
“Not a good idea. And I want to make sure all the boats are gone.”
“You’re not leaving my sight, so forget it.”
“A willful one you be.”
“Darn right.” She glanced over at him. “Oh, your robe.” She slipped it off, tossing it to him and turning away. He didn’t miss her glance at his groin and it stirred a hunger inside him, reminding him of his deadline. What day was it? Had the eve of Samhain passed? He donned the robe. “Quietly, Carolyn.”
She nodded.
They reached the bluff above the shoreline, but he made her stay back. He looked over the edge at the horrors below. Several poles were staked into the sand, braced with stones. Driftwood, straw and branches must have been used to start the fires from the amount of ash at the base.
His stomach roiled, and he tasted bile. Rory squeezed his eyes shut, but the image remained. He expected that image would be etched on his mind forever.
“What do you see? Are they dead?”
“Yes, lass,” he whispered, not looking at her, afraid she’d see the horror in his eyes.
She hurried to him, but he held up his hand and shook his head. “Don’t.”
She dropped to the ground, sitting with her legs crossed and her face in her hands. “They weren’t hurting anyone. They were kind people.”
“It be a terrible thing, but this isn’t our time. We need to find our way back.” He pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her.
Her body shook. This Carolyn, the body of the woman she inhabited, felt smaller in his arms. He stroked longer dark hair, but she was still Carolyn and it felt good to hold her. Even though it was hardly the time to be lusting after a woman.
He kissed her hair and breathed in the scent of sweet honeysuckle and incense, then straightened his back and pulled away. “We should be heading to the stones, lass.”
* * *
Carolyn hesitated before entering the ravaged megalithic site. Hearth stones from the bonfire had been kicked out of their circle and a few of the charred logs had been tossed several feet from the stone structure. The wooden bowls containing herbs, fruits, milk and butter were smashed with boulders. A few white robes remained, stained with blood—more evidence of the violent raid.
Carolyn’s stomach lurched, and she thought she was going to be sick. Squeezing her arms around her waist, she took several deep breaths. She watched Rory through tears as he swore, shook his head and kicked stones.
She bent and picked up a sprig of mistletoe that miraculously had not been crushed and held it to her heart.
Rory finally calmed and walked around the circle touching each stone megalith with his eyes closed, then moving to the next one. He stepped into the center of the array with arms outstretched as if he expected something to happen. But for the next hour, except for a breeze, the chirp of a bird, nothing happened.
“Are we stuck here?” she asked flatly.
He dropped his arms. “I don’t know. The Sidhe said to wait by the stone circle.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know,” he shouted, then ran his hand through his long hair. “I’m sorry. The Sidhe can be…difficult.”
“What do you mean difficult?”
“They can be temperamental, to teach lessons for crossing them,” he said.
“Great, so the Sidhe are moody and are teaching us a lesson by keeping us here.” She strolled outside the circle toward the ocean.
“Stay inside the circle, Carolyn. I don’t know when the ley lines will intersect again, and we have to stay here or we may not get another chance.
The sun reflected on a few specks floating in the ocean. Carolyn studied them. At first she thought they were dolphins, but she didn’t know if dolphins could be found in this area. The specks seemed to be moving toward the island. Then she saw splashing, from oars?
Boats.
Her chest tightened and she pointed, but couldn’t suck in enough air to call Rory.
“Carolyn, please come back into the circle,” he said. “Mother Mary…” He grabbed her arm and dragged her into the circle. “They be coming back.”